


Some Enchanted Evening

by steverogersandpeggycarter



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Steve and Peggy as Parents, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25386631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steverogersandpeggycarter/pseuds/steverogersandpeggycarter
Summary: Just a happy evening in the life of Steve and Peggy, several years after Steve's return in "Avengers: Endgame."
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Peggy Carter & Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers
Comments: 17
Kudos: 45
Collections: Steggy Week





	Some Enchanted Evening

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Steggy Week 2020, Day 1 (Domestic Bliss).

# Some Enchanted Evening

“I’m home!” Peggy tossed her hat on the entry table and sniffed appreciatively as the smell of roast beef wafted from the kitchen. “Steve?”

In the distance she could hear someone talking, but it wasn’t directed at her. Peggy came into the kitchen and found Steve at the back door, laying down the law to six-year-old Natasha and four-year-old James.

“If you two don’t stop throwing crab apples at each other, I’m going to have to separate you,” Steve said.

Natasha, whose blonde head was almost hidden under a mixing bowl that served as a helmet, protested. “But Daddy, we were playing Howling Commandos!” 

“You’re not a how’ling c’mando,” little James said accusingly. “You’re Hydra and I get to be Bucky Barnes this time!”

Steve sighed, but Peggy could tell even without seeing his face that a grin was forming. “I think you’ll work better on the same team. Jimmy, you can be Bucky. Nat, you’re super-secret Agent Natasha Rogers. The punching bag in the garage is Hydra.”

“Can you come play with us?” Natasha begged.

Steve shook his head. “I’ve gotta finish dinner, sweetie. Better go now—Hydra’s taking over the garage!”

The two kids ran off, yelling. Steve turned around and greeted his wife with a kiss. 

“Darling, have you been telling them wild stories from the war again?” Peggy asked. 

Steve groaned. “It’s all they want to hear. Howard started it by telling all those tall tales the other week about his exploits as a pilot.”

Peggy laughed. “I think Dugan told them a few at the Memorial Day parade, too.”

Steve sniffed suddenly. “Oops! The roast!” He gently moved Peggy aside, dashed over to the oven, and rescued the pan of beef, potatoes, and carrots. 

Peggy sat down on a kitchen chair and propped her feet up on another one. This was the best part of the day for her and Steve, with the whole evening stretching out before them. Unless an emergency situation came up, or they had to go to some evening function for S.H.I.E.L.D., they preferred to spend most evenings quietly at home. Sometimes friends would drop by, especially Steve’s best friend Bucky (whom Steve and Peggy had managed to rescue from Hydra in 1949), “Dum Dum” Dugan, and Edwin and Ana Jarvis (Howard Stark’s butler and his wife). They all agreed there was nothing else as relaxing as the Rogers’ house in the evening. 

Steve leaned back against the kitchen counter. “How was your day?”

“Considering everything,” Peggy said, “it was pretty normal. Howard exploded something in the lab and took his eyebrows off, Thompson and Sousa nearly got in a fist fight, and we’re on high alert in case that 0-8-4 in Montana turns out to be a problem.”

“Sounds like a normal day at the office,” Steve said with a grin. “I’d like to see Howard trying to pick up chicks without any eyebrows.” 

“I expect by the time he comes in tomorrow, he’ll have invented something to re-grow them,” Peggy said. She swung her feet down from the chair and got up to help Steve set the table. 

The dinner plates were on the top shelf of a cupboard made for people taller than Peggy. As she began to scramble onto the kitchen counter to reach them down, a strong arm caught her around the waist.

“Bucky’s mother never let me do that when I was helping her set the table,” Steve said, reaching over Peggy’s head with his other arm to get the plates down. 

Peggy turned around and fixed a stern eye on her husband. The twinkle in his eye was unmistakable. “All right, Mr. Super-Soldier,” Peggy said. “I had no idea that your ambition in life was to be exactly like Bucky’s mother.”

Steve laughed. “Poor Mrs. Barnes had a lot to put up with from me. I was always coming home with black eyes and nosebleeds for her to take care of. She said I cost her a fortune in beefsteaks.”

“Your eyes seem to be all right now,” Peggy said, appraising Steve’s face with her head on one side. Steve smiled and leaned down to kiss her.

They were almost finished setting the table when a shout from outside made Peggy look out the window. Little James was perched high in a tree above the garage roof. He appeared to be clinging onto his branch with might and main, but Peggy took one look and raced outdoors. Natasha was nowhere to be seen.

“James Anthony Rogers!” Peggy called. “What on earth are you doing up there?”

“I’m stuck!” James called, a quaver in his voice. “Help me!”

“What’s going on?” Natasha asked, appearing suddenly from behind the garage.

Peggy sighed. “I thought you and Jimmy were playing together! How did he get up in that tree?”

Natasha stared up at James, open-mouthed. “I didn’t know he was up there! I was hiding behind the garage to sneak up on the Hydra agents in there!”

The screen door banged as Steve hurried outside. “I’ll get the ladder,” he said. “Jimmy, hang on! Peg, you’d better stand underneath in case he falls.”

In five minutes James was rescued and the whole family went in to dinner. It wasn’t as hot as it might have been, but it was still good. Steve’s cooking had improved during the time he spent in the 21st century.

“Jimmy, you’re not to climb that tree again without supervision,” Peggy said.

James nodded. “Sorry, mom,” he said through a mouthful of pot roast. “I was lookin’ out for Hydra spies.”

“Natasha, I want you to keep a better eye on your little brother,” Steve said.

“Yes, daddy,” Natasha said. “Daddy, are we having ice cream for dessert?”

Steve laughed. “You may both have ice cream cones if you eat them in the yard. I’ve mopped the floor once today already.”

Dinner over, Steve and Peggy sat on the porch while Natasha and James drew elaborate chalk pictures on the front walk. Steve had his sketchbook, but he wasn’t sketching anything. 

“Peggy,” he said, “did I ever tell you about the time all the Avengers went to Clint Barton’s farm?”

“Was that when you were fighting that robot?” Peggy asked.

“Ultron. Right.” Steve cleared his throat. “I thought Barton was the luckiest man in the world. The rest of us were pretty much drifting. Most of us didn’t even have real homes. And then we saw Barton’s home—his wife, his kids—it was a life I thought I’d never have.”

“And now you’ve got it,” Peggy said. “Minus the farm.” 

Steve smiled. “I’m too much of a Brooklyn boy to run a farm,” he said. “This is just about perfect.”

“Is there something that would make it really perfect?” Peggy asked.

Steve reached over and took Peggy’s hand. “Now it’s perfect.”

The evening star hung low in the sky against the backdrop of a glorious sunset.

As twilight fell, footsteps approached on the sidewalk. “Hey!” a voice called. “I see two of my favorite soldiers right here!”

“Bucky!” Natasha and James hurled themselves at the newcomer. “Yay!”

Steve and Peggy came down the porch steps. “Bucky!” Steve hugged his friend. “Good to see you! Come on in!”

“I can’t stay,” Bucky said, showing them a bag of groceries. “I’ve got ice cream in here.”

“Nonsense, you can put it in the freezer,” Peggy said. 

“All right, I give up!” Bucky said. “I’ll come in just for a while.” Steve and Peggy led the way into the house. Bucky followed with James perched on his right shoulder and Natasha clinging onto his metal hand.

Steve took the groceries from Bucky and went to put the ice cream in the freezer. Peggy went to look for a record for the record player, and the kids stayed with Bucky in the living room.

“Bucky, we played How’ling C’mandos!” James announced. “I was you, and Nat was Secret Agent N’tasha Rogers, and we were fighting Hydra!”

“That so?” Bucky swung James down onto the living room sofa. “Did you win?”

“Almost,” James said, bouncing on the sofa. “But I got stuck in a tree an’ Daddy had to come get me down!”

“He was all the way up at the top,” Natasha said. “He was gonna be the lookout for spies.”

Bucky shook his head. “I see where you made your mistake,” he told the children gravely. “You didn’t have a captain. Don’t you know every mission’s gotta have a captain?”

The children listened, wide-eyed. “You mean like Daddy?” Natasha asked. “Captain America?”

“Buck, what are you telling them?” Steve called from the kitchen.

“Nothing that isn’t true,” Bucky called back to him. “That’s right, Nat,” he said to Natasha in a lower voice. “Your daddy’s the best captain there is. But he’s a busy man. He wouldn’t mind if you two took turns being captain when you play commandos.”

“I’m gonna be the cap’n next time!” James crowed, jumping off the couch so Bucky would catch him in midair. “I’m gonna use the trash can lid for a shield!”

“Kids, kids, don’t climb on poor Bucky,” Peggy said, coming to rescue their guest.

Bucky laughed and sat down on the sofa, the kids snuggling up on either side of him. “Don’t worry, Peggy,” he said. “Both of them together are easier to manage than Steve was at that age.”

“What about me?” Steve came back into the room with an amused expression. 

Bucky grinned. “I keep forgetting about that super-hearing of yours,” he said. “I was telling Peggy these kids of yours are nothing to the holy terror you were back in the day.”

Steve grimaced and Peggy laughed. “You might not have thought so if you saw how high Jimmy was in that tree,” she said.

“Speaking of kids,” Steve said, “you two had better get on up to bed!”

“Aw, Daddy, do we have to?” Natasha asked. “Bucky just got here!”

“Five minutes, then,” Steve said. “Then you go right up when I tell you.” He settled himself comfortably on a second sofa with his arm around Peggy.

Bucky regaled the kids with stories until their bedtime (with some quips and interjections from Steve and Peggy). Then Natasha and James hugged everybody all round and went upstairs with Peggy.

“You’ve got good kids, Steve,” Bucky said. 

Steve smiled. “They’re great,” he said. “I’ve gotta say, their childhood isn’t anything like mine. Those two barely know what a sick day is!”

“They probably don’t get nearly as much practice with checkers as you did,” Bucky said. “Or read so many long books. Or get into fights with people in alleys.” He grinned.

“Thank goodness for that!” Peggy said, catching Bucky’s last comment as she came into the room. 

Bucky stayed much later than he had planned, talking about past exploits with the Howling Commandos and learning all about what was going on with S.H.I.E.L.D. Finally he collected his ice cream from the freezer and reluctantly said his goodbyes. 

“Come again soon,” Steve and Peggy told him.

“Don’t you worry,” Bucky called over his shoulder as he went down the steps. “I’ll be back. This place is home.”

Steve and Peggy went in. The house was quiet.

“Bet you ten cents Nat’s reading a book under the covers,” Steve said.

Peggy laughed. “I’m not going to bet on that. She’s your kid. Of course she’s reading under the covers.”

They turned off the downstairs lights and went upstairs softly. Natasha’s door was open a crack, and Peggy peeked in. The sheet that was pulled over Natasha’s head didn’t do much to block the glow of a flashlight.

“Good thing you didn’t take my bet,” Steve whispered from behind Peggy.

They moved on to James’s room and found him sleeping soundly, all sprawled out on his bed, with one beam of moonlight falling across his blond hair.

“He looks worn out,” Peggy whispered. “After all that running around today, he ought to be.” 

“Reminds me of the way I slept that week at Camp Lehigh,” Steve said. “I’d never been so tired in my life. All my dreams were Sergeant Duffy yelling. ‘Rogers! Get that rifle outta the mud! Rogers! Fall in! Rogers! Get off of there!’ 

Peggy laughed lightly and stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “I knew I liked you when you took down that flagpole to get the flag,” she said.

Steve’s arm slid around her waist. “I knew I liked you when you punched Hodge in the face.”

“What a story to tell the kids!” Peggy shook her head with a smile. “Wouldn’t it be more restful for a family to have normal parents?”

Steve bent his head and kissed the top of her hair. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


End file.
